Elastic binding for footwear



Dec. 16, 1941. R. T. DAwEs ELASTIC BINDING FOR FOOTWEAR Filed July l, 1940 R06 mi @m/f@ VM su from elastic material is of comparatively recent Patented Dee.v 16, 1941 PATENT-OFFICE l escasas ELAs'rlo nmmNc Foa Foo'rwrum Robert T. Dawes,

Hudson, Mass.. assigner to Thomas Taylor sa Sons, Inc., Hudson, Mass., s

corporation of chusetts Application July 1, 1940, Serial No. 343,325

3 Claims.

Thisinvention pertains to footwear, and relates more particularly to an improved elastic tape or webbing for use as a finished binding at the top edge of a shoe upper. many years past it has been customary to insert gores of elastic webbing in shoe uppers, particularly at the sides of mens shoes of the Congress type, the practice of making large portions or indeed substantially all of a shoe upper origin, at least as applies to the manufacture of iine shoes ior womens wear. However, at the present time many shoes, particularly those of the pump type, have uppers which are largely of stretchable elastic material; for instance, elastic webbing having its' outer surface finished or covered to provide any'desired and acceptable appearance.

In the manufacture of shoes of the "Congress type it has long been recognized that the upper, exposed edge of the inserted elastic gore is prone to become permanently elongated during wear so as to lose the desirediclose t, and to overcome this diiilculty gering having reinforced y edges has recently been introduced. However, the trade practice in making womens shoes has been to provide a iinish bead, commonly known as a French cord or English cord finish, `at the top edge of the upper, and this established practice must be followed by the Shoemaker even though the shoe upper be in part or wholly elastic. Since it is an essential feature of a. shoe having a stretchable upper that its top edge be capable of elongation,

it has'heretofore been Proposed to use a French cord binding of elastic material, that is to say; a tape or the like including rubber threads. However, ordinary elas- `tic webbing having the desired external appearance and thinness to form an acceptable French cord edge does not' possess sufficient elastic strength to withstand the effects of repeated donning and doiiing of the shoe, and soon becomes permanently stretched, thus imparting a slovenly appearance to the shoe, the 4difcultv becoming more and more pronounced as the elastic area" forms a larger and larger part of the shoe upper. In rthe attempt to `overcome uns dimmnty, snoemakers have resorted to die practice of applying a. second or additional tape 5o arranged at the inside of. the upper just belowy the top edge, such tape being elastic but thicker and heavier than the tape which it is permissible in use in forming a French cord edge. .This

second ,tape not only assists in maintaining the 55 desired degree of elastic resiliency at .the edge; but may also lhelp in imparting the proper contour to the top portion of e upper.. Obviously,

however. this use of two separate elements, to wit, tbc French cord finishing tape reinforce tape, necessitates the preparation, handling and attaching of two separate pieces of material, thus involving a considerable item of expense in makingthe shoe.

The present invention has for its principal object the provision of an elastic tape which can be used in substitution for both the prior elastic French cord edge nishing tape and the secondary or reinforce tape which has commonly been applied independentlyy to the inside of the shoe upper, such improved tapeC providing all of the advantag owing from the use of the independent French cord and reinforcing tapes previously employed but reducing the time and costof application as well as decreasing the amount of material required. The improved tape or webbing, in accordance with the present invention, comprises two integrally joined, longitudi'nally extending distinct strips, which preferably difier in width and in elastic properties and which are preferably separated by a longitudlnally extending indentation or groove which denes the fold line and facilitates uniform application of the binding to the upper. Both strips comprise uniformly spaced rubber warp strands bound together by textile yarns, some of the textile yarns being warp yarns, The ruba -ber threads which are employed, are all oi' substantially the same size and elasticity, thus facilitating the weaving of the material, but, on the other hand, in the narrow finishing strip which is designed to be exposed at the outer side of the' shoe upper, each rubber warp strand consists of single rubber thread, whereas in the wide reinforce strip which is designed to be disposed at the inside of the shoe upper and which performs the function of the previously employed independent reinforcel tape, each elastic strand comprises a group of elastic threads. For example, two such threads may be arranged sidefby side, either widthwise of the material or one on top of the other thicknesswise of the material to constitute each elastic strand.A The textile warp strands are uniformly spaced throughout the width of the binding except that The accompanying drawing illustrates this invention with particular reference to the employment of the Velastic binding in the manufacture of womens shoes.

' `In that drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective -view of a. shoe embodying-[this invention;

Il'ig.'v is enlarged diagrammatic cross-sectional view, taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1, v

of thebindlng employed as a French cord edging and the inner s nimmer the ont siepin' attaching the binding to form the edging shown in Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating the binding employed as an English cord edging;

Figs. 5 and 6 are cross-sectional views illustrating the formation of woven bindings `embodying this invention;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic plan view of a helically woven or braided tape;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic section on the line 8 8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic section, similar to Fig. 4, but illustrating a modification; and

Fig. 10 is a view generally similar to Fig. 9, but showing a further modification.

The shoe I 0 includes lexpansible and contractible panels II and is provided at the top edge with a nish I2 embodying this invention. As shown particularly in Figs. 2 and 3, the finish I2 is formed of a binding I5 comprising an outer strip I6 and an inner strip I1 united at a fold line I8. The binding I5 is secured in the form of a French cord edging, the outer strip I6 being attached by stitches I9. The panels II each consists of an elastic gore and an outer facing 2| of fabric.

The binding I5, as shown in Fig. 5, comprises rubber warp strands and fabric warp threads 26 bonded by fabric weft threads 21. 'Ihe rubber strands 25 in the strip I6 con-sist of single threads of rubber and in the strip I1 of two threads of rubber, so that the amount of rubber per unit of width in the latter strip is twice that in the former strip. The omission of the fabric warp threads 26 between the strips I6 and I'I forms the fold line I8. 'I'he rubber threads forming the strands 25 in the strip I'I are arranged one on the other transversely of the thickness of the fabric so that the strip I1 is thicker than the strip I6.

The binding I5' in Fig. 6 diiers from the binding I5 in that the double rubber threads forming the strands 25' in the strip I'I' are disposed side by side widthwise of the fabric so that the strips I6' and I1 are of the same thickness. The binding I5' includes the fold line I8', and the warp strands 25' and threads 26 are bound together by weft threads 21'.

It will be noted that in each form of binding the rubber threads forming the warp strands are of the same size so that the tension thereon may be uniform during the weaving of the bindings with the result that the longitudinal edges of the tape are of substantially uniform length and the tape is straight and substantially devoid of tendency to curve in its own plane. The amount of rubber, however, is greater in th strip which is designedinner wall than in the other strip.

Fig. 4 illustrates the use of the binding I5 to make an imitation French cord or English cord edging which differs from the edging shown -in` Fig. 2 merely in the manner in which the strip I5 is secured to the outer face of the shoe.

Figs. '7 and 8 illustrate a tape embodying the invention but of braided or helically woven type. In this material the textile yarns 26X and 21 results for example from making the tape upon a braiding machine, while the rubber strands extend longitudinally of the tape and substantially parallel with its selvage. As in the tape -of Fig. 5, the elastic strand's in the portion IBX (Fig. 8) of the tape are single rubber threads, while each to be secured to the g elastic strand in the part I'IX consists of a plurality of rubber threads, all of the rubber threads being of substantially the same elasticity. At the section I8x the elastic strands are omitted, thus producing a thin area-which defines a fold line.

Fig. 9 illustrates the application of the improved tape in a manner which is the reverse of that shown in Fig. 4; that is to say, the thicker portion II of the tape is disposed at the outside of the upper II while the thinner part I6 of the tape is arranged at the inside of the upper. For such use the outer surface of the part I1 may be of an ornamental weave or may be Woven with inclusion of distinctively colored yarns or yarns of different materials so that the part I1 provides an attractive collar constituting a finish for the top of the upper. The arrangement of Fig. 9 provides a finish of the English cord type but reversed, and it is to be understood that a similar reversal of the usual French cord construction Will also provide the suggested collar effect. In'Fig. 9 the tape is shown as having a fold line at I8 but in Fig. 10 a similar arrangement is shown wherein the tape is unprovided with a distinctive fold line.

While the forms of elastic binding herein shown and described are woven, it will b'e understood that the invention is not limited thereto and that the bindings may be made by other methods, e. g. braiding-but in any event the invention contemplates the provision of an elastic binding including two strips', one of which strips differs from the other in that it has a greater amount of rubber or other elastic material per unit of width and hence is more resistant to stretching forces exerted longitudinally.

I claim:

1. An elastic binding and reinforcing tape for use in binding the raw edge of a shoe upper, comprising a narrow fabric having two integrally joined longitudinally extending portions of different thickness, each said portion being of substantially uniform thickness throughout its width and containing longitudinally extending rubber warp strand-s, the thicker portion of the tape having a greater resistance to longitudinal stretch than does the thinner portion.

2. An elastic binding and reinforcing tape for use in binding the raw edge of a shoe upper, comprising a narrow fabric having two integrally joined longitudinally extending portions of different thicknesses, each said portion being of substantially uniform thickness throughout its width and containing longitudinally extending rubber warp strands, the thicker portion of the tape having a greater resistance to longitudinal stretch than does the thinner portion and being composed of rubber strands which are multiples of the rubber strands in the thinner portion.

3. An elastic binding and reinforcing tape for use in binding the raw edge of a shoe upper, comprising a narrow fabric having two integrally joined longitudinally extending portions of different thicknesses, each said portion being of substantially uniform thickness throughout its width and containing longitudinally extending rubber warp strands, the tape having a strucf tural fold line intermediate said portions and the thicker portion -of the tape having a greater resistance to longitudinal stretch than does the thinner portion.

, ROBERT T. DAWES. 

